So, knowing I was going to be in town today for a dental check up, I decided to do some writing in a local coffee shop. Got a loyalty freebie so I was all set. But my stoma had other plans. I was just finishing up my coffee and got my notebook out, and pain shoots through my bag. My stoma is working overtime to push something through; last nights dinner. Of course, we had chill. With beans in it. Corn chips on the side. I hardly drank yesterday when I think about it too, so just absolutely shit situation.…

“Time moves slowly but passes quickly.” That can be said for my recovery from surgery. I can’t quite believe its been a month already but in the same thought I can believe it. I’ve been experiencing recovery in real time and taken each day as it comes. It hasn’t been easy – but I knew it wouldn’t be – but its been better than my last experience of recovering from surgery. Mention-worthy moments: Not needing any pain relief since being discharge. Being able to manage my stoma – when its changed size and the output has changed consistency. Even…

Tuesday 23rd August (cont’d) “I’ve got a space for you on the end of the emergency list today, could be this afternoon, probably this evening though.” Ward round this morning and surgeon is keen to remove my colon today. Despite being busy, he will stay and do my surgery when his list is complete. Turned out that meant waiting all day – still experiencing more blood than I’ve ever known to come out of me – until the anesthetist came to see me at 6pm. We talked through my procedure – a subtotal colectomy with ileostomy – and my options…

Its finally here; the pre op appointment! Before that appointment, I also met with the stoma nurse at the hospital; there is a small chance – 10% or so – that my operation could result in having a temporary ileostomy, so we discussed what one would look like, which side I would have it on, how the bag would fit to my abdomen and why it would be needed. If my surgeon finds extensive disease in my transverse colon he wishes to remove, he could very well create a ileostomy to help me out for a couple months before coming…

Seven more days of having all my insides, still inside of me. Seven more days of this constant, terribly draining pain. Seven more days in this current chapter of my IBD life. I know surgery isn’t a magic or quick fix. I know I will be in pain afterwards, a different pain from the one I’m experiencing right now but I am hoping this will be controlled better and not be constant once I’m off painkillers. I know its a big deal for my body to be put through; the worst its been through is a flare up four years…